Builders of a ritzy high rise co-op in the big apple are raising eyebrows for figuring out how to lower their taxes from 22 million to just a half million dollars a year. Extell is building the fancy Upper West Side luxury tower where rich folks can buy a unit facing the Hudson River for 1.3 to 15.9 million dollars.
But New York has a tax loophole which gives millions and millions of dollars to developers who include a little bit of ‘affordable housing’ in their high rises. In exchange, developers get to jam more units into the development and offer those extra ones to the po’ folk. Extell will provide 55 low income units on the lower floors of the backside of the building, which face an alley.
The catch is, the rich folk and the po’ folk are never supposed to mix in this building. The building’s millionaire residents will have a grande entrance on the front of the building, and a prestige address at 40 Riverside Boulevard. Low income families have a separate entrance in the alley.
Some New York politicians say it smacks of feudalism and classicism.
The developer thinks the only thing it smacks of is millions of extra dollars in profits.
(click here for NY Post story)
My question is: When the po’ folk can’t pay the HOA dues do the rich folks foreclose on them until they own the entire building? Possibly using the po’ folk area for domestic help or renters? Or is it required that the residents must always be po’ folk and rich folk forever? Does anybody out there know the rules?